Smart cards are used instead of the payment of bills or coins and are becoming increasingly popular for purchases. The configuration of a smart card is dictated by various standards set by the International Standards Organization (ISO). FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a smart card, consisting of a plastic card 10, a plastic support 11, a glue layer 12, a microcontroller 13, and a printed circuit 14 providing contacts for the leads of the microcontroller. The contacts of the printed circuit 14 contact electrodes in a smart card reader, and circuitry within the smart card reader communicates with microcontroller 13. Microcontroller 13 accesses memory on the chip containing identity information as well as monetary information. Typically, a user provides cash to an institution which, in return, downloads monetary units to the memory of the smart card. When the user desires to make a purchase, the user inserts the smart card into a card reader and enters a personal identification number (PIN). The card reader then deducts the appropriate monetary units from the memory in the smart card.
Cashless gaming is gaining popularity in casinos due to the simplicity and financial benefit of eliminating the need for cash when playing gaming machines. One form of cashless gaming uses a smart card that the player inserts into the gaming machine, such as a slot machine, to download credits (electronic tokens) from the smart card into the gaming machine. After playing, any credits in the gaming machine are transferred to the smart card.
In one such cashless gaming scenario, the casino provides its own smart cards having a unique key to enable the smart card to only be used within that casino. The player inserts money into a smart card dispenser, or the player gives money to a casino cashier, and a smart card is provided to the player with that money stored in the smart card's memory as electronic tokens.
In one type of cashless gaming machine, electronic tokens from the player's smart card inserted into a card reader of the gaming machine are transferred to another smart card, called a Secure Application Module (SAM), within the gaming machine. The SAM can only be removed by authorized casino personnel gaining access to the inside of the gaming machine. The gaming machine uses the SAM as a temporary purse to store all credit transactions during play of the game. When cashing out, the credits are transferred from the SAM to the player's smart card, and the smart card is ejected from the machine.
There are several shortcomings of SAM handling:
1. The SAM's purse must be preloaded with a certain value before it is locked up within the gaming machine. That means, over a certain period of time, there are SAMs with electronic money in an unsecured environment. A person with knowledge of smart card technology can use a SAM to illegally transfer money from the SAM to a user's smart card.
2. When there is much gaming activity, the SAM inside the gaming machine may become empty or full. In this case, no further electronic money transfer is possible until the SAM is physically replaced by a new one with a preloaded value.
3. The amount of electronic money on the SAM can be considered as a potential risk of financial loss in case of theft.
4. The casino is unable to use the money stored in a SAM within a gaming machine for supporting other gaming machines, resulting in an inefficient distribution of the money.